Where's the Fun? (WTF?) - December 2013

Maybe there’s something in the water, but the vast majority of email we’ve received in the last two months has been about blown-up parts. So for this month’s WTF, we present you a blowout of the blown-up stuff.

Utter Destruction

2/10

I’m writing in for my friend, Kevin. Just saw this catastrophic failure of his Ford FE block. After 350 passes, the crankshaft finally broke in several places, blowing out the side of the cement-filled block and bending the aluminum rods. Time for a new motor!

—Tim, via email

Toothless

3/10

I’ve been beating on my ’69 AMX (390, four-speed) since I bought it in 1978. Finally, the stock Model 20 rearend got noisy and sounded like bad pinion bearings. I pulled the cover, and metal teeth fell out.

—Jeff Sackley; Golden, CO

Piston Nugget

4/10

Here’s what a Straight-8 Buick piston ($1,400 a set) looks like after 20 pounds of boost and a coolant flow problem (read detonation). The engine powers the Salt Cat II Streamliner at Bonneville and has gone 242 mph.

5/10

—Doug Grieve, Morris/Grieve Racing

Tranny Ghosts

I’m sending a few pics of my little transmission explosion that occurred last year at the OC cruise in Maryland. During a particular high-speed run down the highway, the tranny decided to give up the ghost, not only destroying the transmission but also shearing off the driveshaft and destroying the exhaust system, too. I got the car back on the road after a solid month of trashing!

6/10

—Nick Varnalis, via email

Went to Lunch!

I lost this rod and bent a couple more when the Godzilla boost bypass valve stayed closed on my ’06 SRT8 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a Paxton Novi 1500. At about 7 pounds of boost, 525 hp feels great in an all-wheel-drive SUV. I was merging onto the highway, and it went to lunch as the shift to Third hit.

7/10

Scattered

8/10

This is what happens at 7,000 rpm in a 4,000-pound Buick!

—Anonymous email

Non-Blown Up Part of the Month

9/10

After all the blown-up parts, how about a nice, intact car? Check out Gary Hartzell’s ’55 Chevy. He almost bought one like this in 1969, but the seller’s asking price of $100 was a little too steep for him at the time (if you can imagine that!!). His college buddy, Dick, bought it instead, offering to let Gary buy it if he wanted. The car eventually sold to a third friend, whom Gary bought the car from in 2009. It cost him more than $100, but he says it was well worth it, considering the sentimental value the car holds.

Letters

Last month we printed the incorrect price for the new K-member from QA1. The price is: $299.95 for Mustang; $694.95 for Mopar.

10/10

Carburetor Lover?

I absolutely love the dual quads on the [Sept. ’13] cover. The manifolds were nice, too.

—Robert Williams, via email

Just Email Us, Bro

I wanted to inquire as to how I should submit pictures of my car to be considered for a feature in your magazine.

—Wayne Hipple; Bourbonnais, IL

Send some pictures of different angles of your car to CarCraft@carcraft.com. We read everything you guys send.

A Cry for Help

Loyal CC fans, would you please help us update our archives? We are in the process of scanning every page of our old issues to create a digital archive of Car Craft going back to its inception. To make the best scans, we need the following issues:

Honk!

1953: May, July

Car Craft

1953: December

1956: February

1957: August

1959: January, April, July, August

1960: August

1963: All issues

1966: All issues

1967: All issues

1968: All issues

1969: All issues

1970: All issues

If you have any copies to spare, please mail them to:

Car Craft

831 S. Douglas St

El Segundo, CA 90245

Send Stuff To Car Craft!

Pick up a crayon or iPad, scrawl your best version of English, and send it to Car Craft. Here’s how:

email: CarCraft@carcraft.commail: 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245disclaimer: If you can’t write a complete sentence, don’t worry, we will make your work comprehensible. That includes making up stuff we thought you meant.